Turbine Oil

Turbine Oil 

any oil used to lubricate the bearings and auxiliary machinery in steam and hydraulic turbines, in turbopumps, and in air, gas, and refrigeration turbocompressors. Turbine oils are also used as lubricants and working fluids in various types of closed-cycle industrial machinery.

Turbine oils are highly refined petroleum distillate oils obtained from low-sulfur waxfree crudes or sulfurous paraffinic crudes and contain various additives, such as oxidation inhibitors, anticorrosion agents, demulsifiers, foam inhibitors, and, in special cases, antiwear agents. They are characterized by a high degree of oxidation stability, good anticorrosion and demulsify-ing properties, and a low foaming capacity. Turbine oils with a viscosity of 20–23 × 10^–6 m²/sec (20–23 centistokes) at 50°C are used in high-speed turbine units (3,000 rpm or higher); those with a viscosity of 28–48 × 10^–6 m²/sec (28–48 centistokes) or higher are used in low-speed and high-power turbine units (turboreduc-ing units), including ship turbines.

Synthetic turbine oils based on trixylenyl phosphate are used in control systems of high-power steam turbines. The advantage of these oils is their high flame resistance, but they are expensive and somewhat toxic.

REFERENCES

Spravochnik po primeneniiu i normam raskhoda smazochnykh materialov, 3rd ed., books 1–2. Edited by E. A. Eminov. Moscow, 1969.
Tovarnye nefteprodukty, ikh svoistva i primenenie. Edited by N. G. Puchkov. Moscow, 1971.

E. A. EMINOV